State Retirement Pensions

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people will not get a full pension as a result of any increase in the qualifying period from 30 to 35 years.

Steve Webb: The single-tier pension will require 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions or credits for the full amount. Based on the illustrative amount of £144 for the full single-tier pension in 2012-13 terms set out in the White Paper, 30 qualifying years under the single-tier scheme would be equivalent to a value of £123.43 a week.
	Under the current state pension system, people reaching State Pension age today require 30 qualifying years for the full amount of basic State Pension currently £107.00 a week and can make contributions to the State Second Pension for each year in their working life. When the single-tier pension is implemented we will recognise contributions made under the current system and translate them into a single-tier pension foundation amount.
	In the long term around 85% of people will get the full single-tier pension under the proposals outlined in the White Paper published in January. Chart 4.1 shows the proportion who will receive the full single-tier pension by the year in which people reach State Pension age. In the early years of the reforms most people receiving less than the full single-tier amount will do so because they will have a deduction applied to take into account periods when they were contracted out of the additional State Pension, rather than because they have fewer than 35 qualifying years.